Stoughton's dream season ends in quarterfinals

Monday

Mar 5, 2018 at 8:44 AMMar 5, 2018 at 8:44 AM

The fact that they were even here may have represented the most unlikely story of the area’s 2017-18 girls’ high school basketball season.

In a remarkable turnaround, the Black Knights of Stoughton High rebounded from a 1-7 start to win 12 of 13 games in a stretch that included a 17-point victory over Dighton-Rehoboth in the first round of the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional.

From start to finish – and it all ended on Sunday – there was one constant the Black Knights couldn’t shake, however.

They had absolutely no answer for their Hockomock League Davenport Division rivals from Foxboro.

The South’s top seed, the Warriors improved to 21-1 by defeating the eighth-seeded Black Knights for the third time this season, 75-38, in the teams’ sectional quarterfinal.

The Warriors routed the Black Knights twice, 74-46 and 74-19, during the regular season.

“They’re very talented,” third-year Stoughton coach Charmaine Steele Jordan said of the Warriors. “It’s tough. We play in the Hockomock League and we compete, but we have solid teams in our league. It’s tough when you get the draw and you’re in the same bracket as another Hockomock League team.”

The fact that Ashley Sampson, a senior guard bound for Adelphi University, and Kaitlyn Mollica, a freshman guard who comes off the bench, led their team in scoring speaks of the talent the Warriors boast. Each player tossed in 22 points, Mollica draining five 3-pointers along the way.

Lily Sykes, another senior guard, backed the pair with 13 points, which include three 3-pointers.

Sophomore guard Aliyah Wright led the Black Knights, who finish the season 13-9, with 10 points. Mariah Harris, another sophomore guard, contributed nine off the bench.

The Warriors took charge early, scoring 14 of the last 16 points in the first quarter to seize a 16-4 lead after one and using a 15-0 run in the second quarter to build a 40-17 halftime lead that continued to grow as the game went on.

The game was delayed approximately 25 minutes when Shannon Smally, Foxboro’s senior center, went to the floor with 5:51 to play in the third quarter after suffering what was believed to be a dislocated shoulder.

Their season over, the Black Knights will lose three players to graduation – Val Whalen and forward Jordan Motley, both of whom start in the frontcourt, and reserve forward Haley Stone – but 10 of the 13 players on the roster they took into Sunday’s game were underclassmen.

“I think this team could be back in this spot (in the tournament) next year for sure,” said Steele Jordan.

How they got there this year was a story in itself, the tournament berth the program’s first since the 2013-14 campaign.

“The kids just continued to believe in the message we were driving home all year: Let’s get out, let’s play, let’s defend,” Steele Jordan said. “They believed in it, made it happen and got themselves a tournament opportunity and were able to win one (tournament game). I couldn’t be more proud of these 13 young ladies, how they stepped up and how resilient they were.”